The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1887-05-25
TO Mrs. 5. Snyder Shocks.
BY sIBYL SNYDER

-NOWi N0ioIOl lldNtu I yOu
Arrays advocated woman's rights?n
And at my first feeble attempt to assert
my rights, and in the most delicate
manner possible barely hint that
although the race of " farmers wives"
from neglect of modern improvements.
were likely to become extinct, l was
not averse to becoming one myself,
you are Scandaized! Is that quite con-
sistent? 1t was not altogether sefI was
thinking of; it seemed to me it might
cheer up the poor, respondent creatures
to know another was willin' yes,
more than willin' "-provided the
right sort of /" Barkis presents him
self. You said you /" could hardly tell
which side / had volunteered on"
Did you think l was not quick-sighted
enough TO see it would injure my matri-
monial prospects to argue too strongly
in favor of improvements? Just wait
till l am Mrs. Jones or jenkins: trust
me for getting all the helps and i'm
provements ingenuity can devise. And
that is not all 1. intend to be the presi-
dent-ess of the " Society for the Amel-
ioration of the Condition of Farmers
Wives" AS that big word ameliorotion
slipped off my pen l seemed somehow
so full of its importance it rolled off my
tongue as well. Tabby, asleep on the
rug at my feet, raised her head, winked
both eyes knowingly at me, gave sharp
little nod and went off into doze again.
We are in perfect sympathy, Tabby
and l, the long, long evenings we spend
together knitting socks for the
g foreign MISSION" she playing with
the yarn. She understands my words
to dot. When memory gets too busy
and the needles click spitefully she
jumps in my lap, nestles her cold
nose lovingly against my cheek and
tries in her mute way to comfort me.
Sometimes when the winds are out for
frolic and sigh and moan through the
tree-tops, and go shrieking and howl
ing about the house, think it sounds
like the chorus of the " twins - when
Serephina is administering the rod of
correcton-how her eyes widen, and
her sharp ears work nervously, and she
joins her soft purring song to the weird
music of the winds without. She even
thinks that is better than so much
I" awful Stiffness" You see, Serephina,
it's different. try to get up a little en-
thusiasm over the good I'm doing knit
ting socks and wooden night-caps for
the heather away off somewhere in
Africa, while you are darning stockings
and patching the trowsers of little
heather at home. Your hands and
heart both are brimful of home mis-
sion," while mine are wofully empty.
You see you don't know how happy
you are. You get worn out of all pa
thence picking up after the rogues, and
when they get on one of their jolly
rackets and bedlam seems let loose
you feel like sticking your fingers
in your ears and giving up in
despair. Now if there's anything
l enjoy it is romp with the young
sters, popping corn, pulling candy,
and no end of good time.
If l tumble over fourteen rocking
horses and sit down in my best
alpaca gown on a chair where the
"twins :" have laid their molasses
candy it wouldn't Grille" me in the
least. You don't have to take a light
and look in every closet, and under the
bed, and behind the door, and in the
" chist,' for fear some one is hid there,
every time you have been out for few
minutes. No "spooks" hide where
the merry voices of children are heard.
The editor was right, We were not
congenial SOULS" Bricktop and l.
He was too good. His patience and
forbearance was almost beyond belief.
| knew he deserved better fate, and |
looked stern Duty calmly in the face
and trudged on my way alone. And
alone I'm sure it will be, for all the as
sistance l shall get from you and the
editor. Did you say ought to found
home for vinegar-faced old maids
and dependent pussy-cats? Not much,
Serephina; the reflection from my mir
ror is sufficient. Don't want any more
of that sort about, but the rosy-cheeked,
cherry-lipped children, with glad hearts
or sad hearts, with tidy frocks or torn
frocks-dU shall be made welcome to
the sold maids home" Foreign
heather may make much of their socks
and night-caps knitted by Sibyl Snyder
Her time and attention from hence
forth will be absorbed in " home mis-
sion"
We sincerely and heartily retract all
we said concerning the qualities neces-
sary for breaking steers and colts in
him who would aspire to the possession
of Sibyl Snyder's hand and heart. One
who so loves children must have in her
heart something of has character who
said: "Suffer little children to come
unto me-" May Sibyl find her con-
genial spirit, and "a little child shall
lead them EDITOR.
X. OF Lit is rightly called the
king of liniments. Neurotic Oil never
fails in cases of rheumatism. neuralgia